This invention relates in general to seat tracks for adjusting the position of a seat relative to a support structure. In particular, this invention relates to a longitudinally adjustable seat track assembly having intermediate stops that are selectable to provide different seat travel lengths or positions relative to the support structure.
Seats are provided to carry occupants. The seats may also be equipped with moveable mounting structures that accommodate fore and aft movement of the seat, in part, to provide increased seating comfort for the occupant. For example, vehicles are known to be provided with moveable seats for positioning the occupant within comfortable reach of the controls. Each of the moveable mounting structures is typically a pair of elongated members, such as rails, that cooperate to form a seat track. One rail of the seat track is mounted to a support structure, such as a foundation, floor, or other stationary structure. The other rail of the seat track is mounted to a portion of the seat. Slides may be provided between the two rails to ease movement effort of the seat. The slides may consist of bearings, bushings, or other friction reducing elements.
The seat tracks may also include end stops that limit the range of adjustment in order to prevent the rails from being over-extended. Typically, the end stops are formed in unique locations particular to each seat/track assembly for a vehicle application. The broad variety of vehicle applications generally inhibits commonizing basic track configurations due to the range and variable placement of the end stops. Some seat tracks may provide for variability in locating the position of the end stop relative to one of the tracks, such as the seat track disclosed in published U.S. Patent Application 2011/0101194 to Wetzig et al. The Wetzig et al. seat track provides a separate end stop component that is selectively attached to a pre-formed location on one of the seat track rails. Thus, the locations and arrangement of the range of end stop locations is limited to the pre-formed attachment points provided.
It would be desirable to provide a seat track assembly that can be configured to provide different travel lengths using common rail components. It would further be desirable to provide for a wide range of different travel lengths in a seat track assembly without the use of discrete attachment points.